ZADO NEEDS YOUR HELP!
It really does take a village!
Thank you for helping us continue to serve our wonderful, diverse, and exciting local Sacramento area communities and beyond!
As ambassadors and teachers, Zado members continually research to expand their knowledge base of Balkan, Slavic, and Caucasian songs, music, and vocal techniques and creative ways to perform and present them. As performers, Zado upholds a tradition of more than four decades of presenting concerts, teaching, and celebrating international folk music with schools, festivals, organizations, and the folk-dance community in northern California. As recording artists, Zado has produced and distributed three CDs/albums. As community members, Zado pursues its overarching goal of delivering performances and instruction that inspire individuals to treasure their own cultural roots and those of others, a theme that continues to have meaning and relevance particularly in today's world.
In 2019, Zado updated its goals and applied for grant funding to bring master Balkan teachers to Sacramento for workshops and community sing events and to collaborate with local vocal artists and acknowledged master singers in presentations. In 2020, Zado presented a collaborative performance with Sacramento's Vox Musica and acclaimed Bulgarian soprano, Tzvetanka Varimezova.
In 2020-21, Zado furthered its goals with support from the California Arts Council, Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble, and National Endowment for the Arts. Zado launched its "The Artistry of Balkan Singing" project that provided a master class and three free public workshops via Zoom for the Sacramento area and beyond. The events brought together a spirited and inspiring community of more than 225 Balkan singing enthusiasts and singers from around the globe. Led by two world-renowned Balkan vocal master artists, Tzvetanka Varimezova and Michele Simon, the project also included two virtual choirs based upon the songs taught in the workshops. Zado processed 118 video and audio submissions, all 118 of which were included in the two virtual choir videos, which were posted on YouTube.
In 2022 and with support from the California Arts Council, Zado began work on "Balkan Songs Reborn," a project in response to community requests to restore and remaster its early recordings and to share them with others via online streaming, digital download, and YouTube.
In 2023 and with support from California State University, Sacramento, and its geography department, Zado presented a "Balkan/Slavic Songs and Dances" program for students, faculty, and the public and included songs and dances from Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. Zado also performed for the Sacramento Scandinavian Festival and sang songs from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland.
In 2024 and with support from federal award SLFRP0166, awarded to Zado by the U.S. Department of the Treasury through the City of Sacramento, Zado presented "Balkan/Slavic Songs and Dances" with master artists from Bulgaria - Tzvetanka, Tanya, and Ivan Varimezovi - and with local musicians and Kolo Koalition folk dancers. There were over 120 attendees at the event with standing room only, and many had great fun dancing at the Dance Party at the end. Bulgarian community members led the dances, and folks of many ethnic backgrounds both young and old dressed in ethnic costumes and participated. Zado also again performed for the Sacramento Scandinavian Festival in April 2024.